Has America ever won a war by herself?

Question

Besides the civil war and war of independence, all other wars I can think of she has been an allie, such as in the World Wars. It seems that wars she has promoted such as vietnam, Afganistan and Iraq wars are unwinable. So America doesn't appear to have a good track record, so to speak, winning wars.

Answer 1

America won it's independence with the help of France.

America won the Mexican American War by itself.

It also won the Spanish American War by itself.

It also won the Indian Wars by itself. (War of 1812 was more or less a draw).

Answer 2

Okay, first off even in Afghanistan, and Iraq the US had allies. And secondly, technically they won the war against Iraq. The military was defeated and the government replaced. They didn't lose that war. The occupation and stabilization is the problem, and that's a completely different fight.

The US won the Spanish-American war, all on their own. They lost the war of 1812. So that's a 50% win ratio for the only two completely solo wars I can think of.

I'm not counting Grenada or Panama as full blown wars, but they did win those too.

Answer 3

You fail to take into account other countries wars and whether they had "help". If you figure only wars fought alone then who does have a good track record?

Also, you act as if vietnam, afganistan & iraq are/were all out wars. These are cases where the restrictions we place on ourselves cause our failures (don't forget the debacle in Somolia). If you remember that armies are there to break things and kill people, not accomplish complex breakdown & rebuilding strategies all the while acting like part army, part police, part humanitarian you will realize why we appear to have "failed" to some.

If you let our military wage all-out war we would've won all three campaigns within a year. There also wouldn't be anyone left alive in those three countries... you get my drift?

Next time think a little deeper into the issue before you make a foolish statement like "America doesn't have a good track record... ... winning wars".

Read a book & turn off MTV.

Apparently Steve J thinks strapping down women & children with 6 lbs of C-4 and sending them into a marketplace to blow up civilians is a "fair fight". Disgusting but typical of your average America hater. Everything is our fault. It's easy to blame America for the world's woes, then you can ignore the real problem and go on about your business care free.

Answer 4

Gore Vidal's (one of americas greatest writers), Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got to Be So Hated, states that america has been involved in a war every month since the end of ww2!

some of the other comments posted by other users shows who much the media has fashioned peoples way of thinking and deliberate guidance away from the truth.

america's very short history involves quite alot of military action in one form or another, but like all other countries
it has never been to free the people, only to make itself richer, which never seems to work its way down the countries own people. some examples :

iraq - as we all know, lied to about wmd's but then again there are some very large oil fields.

afghanistan - taliban fighters (trained by the brits, funded by the yanks) the largest oil pipeline in asia runs right through it.

vietnam - stop the spread of communism or protect supply routes to america and its involvement in illegal opium trading (something that the british made a fortune from in its empire days).

all the others that you mention can be brought back to basics as it is the same as the examples given, 'greed and money'

the only reason america has always had an ally is quite simple, justification.

please believe me when i say that it is not just america that operates in this, most if not all countries do. it is very sad that people lose there lives just to make a select few a lot richer. and as somebody else quite rightly said, there are no winners in war.

Answer 5

The Spanish-American war (over Cuba and Philippines), I think 1898, it was the end of the Spanish empire, the beginning of the US has a global power. I don't remember them getting help in Panama, but I know little about that one. It's a good news, that no country can 'do it alone'... the world is safer this way, it means you'll need at least 2 or 3 idiots to start a conflict, not just one warmonger.

Answer 6

Besides a few comparatively minor wars, not many. The Indian Wars were often waged with other Indian allies. The War of Independence was fought with French support.

Then again, the US is about fifteen minutes old compared to those of the Old World, so comparitively it hasn't fought that many. Maybe the US just hasn't got the bottle to go it alone.

Answer 7

Most wars are fought by ALLIED NATIONS that team up to fight a common enemy. There is strength in numbers and that is why when the world is engulfed by war we hear of alliances.

Even during the American war for independence the colonies had help. The French sent troops to help the colonies break away from the big enemy of the French - The British.

During the Civil War the Confederacy had foreign help.

Answer 8

The Allies received WW1 and WW2... The individuals joined in previous due once issues had became the Allies way. united states also bought guns to the Germans in WW2 even once they joined up with the allies. Korea grow to be a stalemate, united states lost the Vietnam conflict and each and each conflict because that which include Iraq and Afghanistan wars which they lost at the same time as starting to be and arming terrorist communities that we are struggling with in the present day. individuals are ******* and idiots.

Answer 9

i just want to say i don't like the idea of referring to a country as "her", countries are often built and defended by men so if we cant call it "him" then its not fair to call it "her".

now as for your question, its not that they cant fight a war on their own or win them, its just that war has changed ever since WW2. a nation cant just declare war on another just because they are stronger, they must agree with the international forces and in doing so they must except international forces to be present. a war that is fought by US alone is an illegal war and therefor affects its Image. Image is important especially for your subjects. humans are more aware these days and the one thing they hate the most is to be invaded, whats worse than that is to be invaded by a nationalist nation which has an image of a tyrant.

Answer 10

well, I dont think America is actually "losing" in Iraq, I think you must look deeper at how the war is being fought, American soldiers are trying to fight by the rules and also are under heavy media scrutiny...the Iraqis on the other hand are fighting without any rules and dont really care too much about media, human rights etc...a perfect example would be a football game, the American team is playing by rules but the terrorists are making up their own rules as they are playing...so therefore if the terrorists were in uniforms and adhered to all the human rights conventions and rules of warfare...then it would be a whole new ballgame...on the other hand, if America showed the reckless brutality the terrorists showed us, I guarantee they'd be no middle east left.

Answer 11

Yes Genada in the 1980's they where asked to intervene by the British Goverment as the was no near forces that could have intervened at that time quickly and the foreign students where mainly American.